Get To Know… Joel!
What is your role at Vovia?
I’m an SEO specialist. In other words, my entire focus is helping our clients become a part of the conversation in organic search results.
What is the best part of your job?
I’ll cheat a bit, because there’s an awful lot to like about where I work and what I do. As far as SEO itself, I like the fact that I can have a direct impact on our clients’ bottom lines – and that the impact can be measured. SEO also appeals to my competitive nature – people forget just how special it actually is to break the top 10 when you’re competing with literally hundreds of thousands of other sites. I guess the other thing I like (and sometimes hate) is that the industry is changing all the time. To stay competitive, you’ve got to constantly evolve and grow.
The best thing about Vovia is the people I get to work with. There’s nothing quite like working with people who you consider your friends and the environment here is unlike anywhere else I’ve worked.
What is the biggest misconception that people have about SEO?
That it’s fast, easy or purely technical. People tend to have a very simplistic idea of what SEO is: keywords, meta-tags, working things into the content. And while SEO still has a huge technical component, we’re seeing the emergence of a whole new kind of role where you wind up acting almost like an online PR agent, helping companies create content that answers the pain points of their audience. There are no magic bullets, fast solutions are rarely sustainable ones and you honestly get back what you put in.
Awhile back I wrote a piece called “5 Things I Wish Every Client Knew About SEO” – I’d say that even though it’s aged now, it’s held up quite well.
Why did you decide to take on Google as your career?
When I graduated from Haskayne with a BComm in Entrepreneurship, I knew more about the kind of company I wanted to work for that what I wanted to do. I was encouraged to apply with Vovia; I came in with virtually no experience in the online space and no clear picture of what my job would ultimately entail. I knew I liked being in a place where I could create change, both internally and for clients. Vovia checked all of my boxes: an entrepreneurial spirit, capable and passionate leadership and the opportunity to grow, learn and make mistakes.
When I showed an ability for SEO I was given the green light to run with it. Over 50 successful projects later, the rest is history.
We heard you do a monthly challenge. What’s the weirdest one to date?
I slept in my backyard in a tent throughout the month of October. You’d fall asleep with the sound of traffic on John Laurie and wake up to the sunshine and a chill in the air. I didn’t learn much from that one, but I slept like a dream.
The internet told us you’re the Best Looking Man In The World. What advice do you have to others who want to become better looking?
Absolutely. The first thing is to work on your confidence. All the fashion tips and workout videos in the world won’t do you an ounce of good if you’re constantly staring at your shoes. After that, I’d recommend a steady diet that includes horrible tasting foods that everyone insists are good for you, like flax seeds. The less appealing the sound of what you’re consuming, the better you’re doing. Once you’ve nailed that down, get some exercise to keep that healthy glow. I myself recommend chin-ups over the edge of cliffs, stairway runs while being chased by rabid dogs and bicep curls with massive bags of the aforementioned flax seeds.
If none of that works, try hanging out with less attractive people so that you look better looking by comparison – or take my approach – somehow find an incredible domain name and lock it down forever.